Extending Internal LED Light to External Indicators

[Trev]

I'd like to extend the light from two internal LEDs to two external indicators. I'm thinking the easiest method would be to secure two cheap fiber optic strands to the LEDs with electrical tape, and secure the opposite ends to two small blocks of clear plastic. I could use plastic cylinders, but the guides need to be flexible.

I could use LED-fiber couplers, but I obviously don't need that kind of accuracy, and they're pricey (~$25). I could also mount external LEDs and solder them to the device, but I don't want to risk the device with my lame and inexperienced soldering technique.

[tone007]

Do the soldering!





<=====    If I can do it, anyone can!

[Trev]

Maybe I'll bring the rig to the AmiWest Amiga clinic this Friday and beg someone there to do it for me. :-)

[kedawa]

Soldering isn't that hard, at least not for something like LEDs.  If you don't feel confident enough to try it on your machine, you could always practice on some junk electronics and get the hang of it first..

[Tension]

Are you trying to move the LEDs from a Hard Disk?  If so, those surface-mounted LEDs can be a bit of a pain to deal with, ie there isn't much margin for error.  Proceed with caution.

[magnetic]

yes solder it. even for a noob its very easy just 2 quick dabs on the pins to the wires..

[Trev]

So I'm thinking I'll replace the internal LEDs with 2-pin headers and run ~20" jumpers to the external LEDs. Sound reasonable? It's a simple project: getting the RRNet link and activity LEDs outside my A500 and adjacent to the keystone jack I mounted under the floppy, next to the joystick ports.

[tone007]

Haven't seen my RRnet in years since I stuck it all in a cartridge case with the MMC Replay, but it definitely sounds doable.  I might even try crushing the plastic off of the LEDs with a vicegrip and just reusing the metal left behind as terminals, if I couldn't find my soldering iron and the wires looked long enough.

edit: on second thought, that activity might stress the connections at the board and pull up a trace or something...